Salta La Linda

(This is me trying coca leaves)

I just got back from my beautiful trip to the northwest of Argentina! We went to a place called Salta and also Juyuy. They were very beautiful places and I have never seen mountains so big! We didn't quite make it to the Andes, but the Oriental range instead, which are a few hundreds of years older than the Andes.

I started out my trip alone. I was a little nervous but didn't want to tell my mother for fear that she would worry. :-) But luckily I managed just fine to get on the bus and travel the 20 hours to my destination alone. I arrived at our cute little hostel, called "nuestro sueno" (our dream), pleasantly surprised by its cozyness. The woman at the desk was also very nice and helpful, telling me how to get to the center of the city to explore. I went out and walked along a long street that had different artesans selling some cool stuff. However, because I was alone, I appeared to be a great target for a few guys selling jewelry. I stopped to look at one guy's stuff and he quickly asked me if I would go back to his room with him! Wow, talk about moving quickly. I got out of there and continued on. On my way back another guy stopped me and tied a string bracelet to my wrist and also asked me if I would go out with him later. Flattering, but not exactly enticing. I do still have the bracelet though, and it's cute! haha.

The next morning my day got all messed up, but I will make a different post about that later. I ended up meeting Abby and Katie when they arrived in the late afternoon and we also went out and explored the city for a little while. We found a restaraunt to eat at and enjoyed the service of our friendly waiter, Max. The next day we began our adventures into the mountains. We were accompanied by our lovely guide, Viviana, and another traveler from Germany, Martina. They were both very nice and we had a great time together! I can't even go through all of the small places we stopped because I will never remember them! But some did include the salt flats, a few small towns, arquelogical cites, and the jungle! The salt flats were sweet because it is just white for miles. We stopped for the night at Puramamarca, a small town nestled in between the mountains. Katie and I got up early the next morning to take a trail around the mountains and apparently see a cool view of the mountains. Well, on our way to the trail a random dog suddenly jumped out of nowhere and attacked me! Not anything horrible, but he was jumping on me and trying to bite my ankles! We eventually got him under control and he followed us the entire way around the trail. We even eventually affectionately named him "psycho dog." It was quite interesting.

The salt flats!

The last day we were back in the city of Salta and had a city tour that we thought was private, with just us three. Well, little did we know, we were to be joined by about 15 others who only spoke Spanish. Good practice, but not quite what we were expecting! I had to go around noon to get back in time the next day for my class. But I did manage to snap a few good pictures!

Overall it was a great trip!

Ta-da!!

An eventful past few days! I’ll begin with the dinner I cooked on Friday. Well, it ended up that I mainly just de-boned the chicken and that was all, but that’s okay. Vicky was so excited about everything that she made the stuffing for the chicken and everything else. She wants me to do it again next week. Ha…I have a feeling that I am going to be eating a lot of stuffed chicken while I’m here.

This baby doesn´t have bones!!! Before and after.

Me with my yummy creation!

Then on Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn (actually before dawn) to volunteer at the “dia del nino” party thrown by the organization. Seriously, I got up at 5:45 because it takes me about an hour to get to the office. I think the day was an overall success. There were over 1000 people and by the end of the day all of the kids received a present. There were games, such as basketball, soccer, jump rope, etc. They had face painting and an area for them to color. They also had lunch, hamburgers and salad, and then later had a snack and chocolate milk. I would say it was quite the day for them…all for free!

A few of God´s gifts to this earth!

However, I became a little frustrated as the day went on for a few different reasons. One reason was that people were complaining that the were bored and that there were no balls to play with, etc. Well, I was working at the games and at the beginning of the day we had tons of balls. Halfway through the day the children had taken off with all of them, so we had no more to give. Then, after the gifts had been passed out there were several children that I saw that wanted to change their gift because they didn’t like the one that they had received. Didn’t they realize how hard we had worked and just what they were receiving?

Having said this, I now realize how the world must look at me, and all who are privileged enough to live in nice houses, have nice things, and have a chance at a good future. What reason do I have to ever complain?? None. Yes, there are and always will be people who have “more” than I do. More money, more opportunity, more ability. What does that matter? I have everything that I will ever need, thanks to my Lord and Savior. “‘For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” I need to stop taking my life for granted and appreciate what I have been given!

Filling in the gaps

This week has been pretty busy for me, despite only having classes on Monday and Tuesday. That´s good news for me...I hope that each week will continue to be busy! Let´s see..on Wednesday I went to see Celeste, who is the travel agent that I work with to plan our vacations. She is so sweet and quite the miracle worker. We are planning on traveling to Salta next week, a province in the northwest of AR. I am really looking forward to it, I hear it´s beautiful. I´ll tell more about the trip later.

Yesterday was quite the day. I got up at 6am (eek!) because I had to go to the office of migration in order to take the final step to get my visa. The office opened at 7:30 and so I wanted to be there right away because I heard the process took awhile. Well, I left about 45 minutes early and didn´t end up getting there until shortly after 8. So I´ll know next time to leave at least an hour early! (Because we have to go back in 45 days). Well, it definitely took 5 hours in the office. Bah...so much waiting and reading and talking and waiting. I felt like it was so unorganized, but I really don´t know anything about how the process works. We had to wait in line #1 to just get our paperwork organized, sign stuff, and pay. Then they sent us to another room where we were combined with a ton more people to wait for our name to be called. This is where I waited probably 3 of the 5 hours. Luckily a girl from one of my classes was sitting next to me, so we were able to chat a little and find comfort in the fact that neither of our names had been called yet. I started to get nervous when the crowd started to thin and they still hadn´t called my name, but finally they did!

I got out of there and headed to LIFE for one of the volunteer activities. It was interesting, but I enjoyed it. First when I got there I just chatted with the other volunteers/interns, who are from all over the world! They are from the states, France, Australia, England, and probably more. Very cool...but no one from Argentina, which was kind of a bummer because everyone just spoke English. Then we headed to our volunteer sites. Mine was I guess the furthest, because it took quite awhile to get there. The commute was probably as long as the time we spent there. Apparently this week was a little different from usual because the kids are on vacation and don´t have homework. Usually we help with homework and then color or play with them. This week was just kind of a free for all...the kids were a little crazy. But it was good nonetheless. I think I needed to see a poorer side of BsAs just to be reminded that not everyone lives as we live. We are SO blessed beyond what we could ever imagine, and yet take it for granted all the time. I mean, these kids were thrilled to have coloring pages...something that many of us probably had books and books of when we were little. I hope I can help to impact their lives...it´s just so hard to imagine how I would have any chance of doing that right now. We´ll see!

Tomorrow is Dia de los niños, and I am helping out with a huge party they are throwing for kids. I guess they are expecting over 1000 kids and, as I told Dan, I just might die. haha. No, but it should be fun and I am hopefully going to bring my camera to capture the fun!! I´ll make sure to post how it goes! Tonight is me making that stuffed chicken for the fam...I hope it goes well! Otherwise i just may be kicked out. haha.

Anyways, love you all...you´re still in my prayers!! **Besos!**

Learning the art of cooking

So! After a week and a half of classes, I have finally decided my final schedule. Yes, we get time to try out classes here (about 2 weeks) and change around if we want. My first class is a Latin American history class, which is a bit difficult to understand at times. The professor seems nice enough though…it’s just the material that I find slightly dry. Latin America’s history is complicated stuff with tons of dates and conquerors, etc. Putting the whole thing in Spanish just makes it harder, ha. My next class is Latin American Literature from the 19th and 20th centuries. The professor is hilarious! He is also much easier to understand. He goes more slowly and takes time to make sure that we understand. He even says a few words in English occasionally, which is funny to hear. I thought lit. would be the worst, but I think I will like it. Thirdly, I have my Tango class. It is divided into two parts…Tango dance and Tango theory. The theory part is awesome! We are learning about the history, the music, art, and culture of Tango. Who knew it was so complex! The professor is interesting and also fairly easy to understand. We also spend a good 20-30 minutes of our 2-hour class listening to music, which I really enjoy. The dance class is fun too, of course. It helps having gone to the other tango class, but we learn some different stuff too. Finally, I have my class with Argentine students. I first tried two different psychology classes, which turned out to be way over my head. They were classes that followed another class, and so they talked about a bunch of things I had no idea anything about. On top of that, there was a lot of discussion that I could not participate in. As much as I hope I am improving in my Spanish, I am still lacking in a lot of areas. So, when I dropped those classes I picked up a few more to try out, including a cooking class!

Yes, that’s right. I have always wanted to take a cooking class, and what better place than Argentina! I was worried that it would be hard like the other ones, but it helped because there were two other “international” students in the class. It’s really weird to be labeled as that by the way. The professor is quite nice and I had a lot of fun! It is going to be work outside of the classroom as well, but I’m hoping that I will be able to handle it. Today we made stuffed chickens. Whole chickens, and we took out the bones ourselves without cutting the skin. Picture that. I think it’s pretty darn impressive, and tasted quite delicious. I am actually going to practice it and make it for my family on Friday. I’ll have to take pictures and post them. I wish I had had my camera at class today. I guess next week we’re learning different soups. Woohoo, I’m going to come back to the states a cooking pro (I hope).

The thing is, now that I have chosen my final schedule, I find my self in a situation that any university student would love, but I find myself worrying slightly about. I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday!! I can’t believe it. The week has just begun, yet I am completely done with classes. It’s wonderful in the sense that I can travel anywhere and have 5 free days free to do so. However, everyone else I know has classes at least one or two more days than me. I did find something that I think will help me occupy my time slightly though. It’s a volunteer organization called LIFE. It works with children in poor areas of town. Apparently every week there are different activities everyday. Some include playing soccer, tutoring, teaching English, and throwing birthday parties. I am super excited to start. It seems like a great organization. This weekend on Saturday it is “dia de los ninos” (kids day) and so apparently there is something big going on with the organization. I think I will help with that. I’m hoping it helps to keep me busy!

A well-needed reminder

I know that I haven´t written much about my faith and new revelations, except a sentence here or there...so now is the time. This morning was a little bit difficult for me because I tried to call my mom, but she wasn´t getting a good signal and the calls kept getting cut off, so I couldn´t really talk to her. For some reason it really upset me and I resorted to what I do best...crying. :-) I am doing better now, but I think there will always be hard moments when I realize that I can´t just make a simple phone call to the people I love most.

So anyways, I sat down to read my Bible. I have been following a reading plan to read the Bible in a year and I´ve been keeping up fairly well. My main problem is getting something out of it everyday. But I figure if I am faithful in my commitment to read the Word every day, God will eventually reveal something to me when the time is right. Today I got a reminder that I needed. I was in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles reading about the different Kings that ruled and how some where faithful to the Lord, and some were not. It goes back and forth constantly. In a sense this made me feel more ¨normal¨ I guess you could say. At times I am much closer to God than others. I always want to be improving my relationship and growing in my faith but, let´s face it, it doesn´t always happen like that. What I need to then focus on is not how far away I am getting, but instead how to draw closer. I need to always focus on renewing my strength in Him and my commitment to Him. God will reward me for that.
It´s normal to go through these cycles...I´m reminded of that. What is important is how I respond to the times where I feel farther away. Will Christ capture my heart again?? I hope and pray that I never give it away to a lesser cause.

Second, I flipped to Jeremiah and read something that challenged me in a huge way.

Jeremiah 1:4-10
The word of the Lord came to me:

I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

But I protested, ¨Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don´t know how to speak since I am only a youth.
Then the Lord said to me:

Do not say: I am only a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the Lord´s declaration.

Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:

Look, I have filled your moth with my words.
See, today I have set you over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.

Wow! If that doesn´t get rid of any and all excuses that I have to not follow the Lord´s will for my life! I feel, and have felt for awhile now, very strongly called to missions, yet my fear holds me back. And I have a lot of fears, which in turn conjure up excuses. My prayer now is that God will reveal to me my fears and show me how to battle them. I don´t want fear to rule my life...I want the will of God to rule it! Can you help me in this prayer?

They only drive slow when you´re late

So this morning was an adventure! To say the least...

It began with me waking up nice and early, 8am. After showering, getting ready, and eating breakfast, I headed out of the house around 9am. The reason for this being that I had an appointment at an office downtown at 10am to get my criminal report for my visa. Leaving an hour early was a bit unnecessary, but I wanted to make sure I wasn´t late. The easiest (and basically only) way I know to get there is by the subte (subway), so that´s what I took. Well, after waiting an unusually long amount of time for it to arrive in the station, I got on. It slowly began to creep forward and then I quickly became acquanted with the man next to me as it slammed on it´s brakes. After a few more times of stop-and-go, we began to move forward at a horribly slow rate. With the time it took to get to the next station I could have walked there. At this rate, I was telling myself, it was a very good thing that I had decided to leave early. However, I soon realized that I just may not have left early enough because an announcement came over the loudspeaker saying that our train was broken down and that we all had to exit the train. Great! Many of the Argentines felt the same way that I did, this fact given away by their grumbling and shouting. I was torn between waiting for the next train, which I didn´t actually know was coming for sure, figuring out a bus route, or taking a taxi. I contemplated for a few minutes and then decided that finding a bus would take too long, so I opted for a taxi.

As I exited the subte stop I had no idea where I was and, of course, as I looked for a taxi that was free, I couldn´t find one. This only happens when you have 10 minutes to get to your destination. Eventually I did find one, and gave him the address. After confirming on my map where exactly I was, I realized that there was NO way that I would make it to my destination on time. We were quite far from the street I needed to go and seemed to be hitting every single red light on the way. Not to mention my taxi driver decided to drive oh-so cautiously...something that my mother will be happy to hear, but was driving me quite mad! I knew I would be lucky to get there by 10:30. I tried to be calm about it, seeing as there was absolutely nothing that I could do. The thing that worried me was that I would be late for my appointment and would get yelled at or have to reschedule. I was paying a lot of money for this taxi and I did not want to have to make the journey again! Luckily we arrived just as the money meter reached as high as I could afford (I didn´t have that much money in my wallet!). As I walked in I was trying my hardest to think about how to explain the situation in Spanish, knowing that I was about 40 minutes late. As I walked up to the window, to my chagrin, he never even looked at the time I was supposed to be there! On top of that, all he did was print off a paper and hand it to me. It was no appointment at all! So two minutes later I walked out of the office with a piece of paper and an empty wallet. Luckily I was able to take the subte home...but man! What a morning.

A great time for something good

Helllo there! So, I had a pretty good finish to my week off. The day that I got back (Wed.) I went to the English school to help ¨teach¨ or whatever it is that I actually do. Talk and get paid basically. :-P Then on Thursday I went a little more into the heart of downtown to start my visa process. Apparently a process that takes quite awhile and costs too much. This day I simply had to go and request a criminal report so that they know I´m an angel. But I have to go back next week to pick up the paper and go make an appointment at some other office to actually request the visa, which takes 45 days to process and costs a good chunk of money. Whoot.

Then on Friday I went and saw the new Batman movie with Abby. I was excited that I could take part in the craze of the US and see this movie. I enjoyed it! It´s nice here because the movies are generally in English if there from the states, with Spanish subtitles. So that´s one less thing I have to miss out on!! Later that night I embarked on a journey to my tango class...alone! That´s a big word for a little girl who is afraid to wander alone at night. And on top of that, Vicky (my host-mom), suggested that I take a different bus there because the stop is right at our corner and drops you off very near the place I was going. I was nervous, but I did it! I even found my way home. The buses are becoming slightly less intimidating. Slightly.

Saturday was a good day. Abby and I decided to find Chinatown to get some good food! I was hoping that the Chinese here wouldn´t be too strange, and I wasn´t disappointed. Mine was delicious and now I know where to go when the craving strikes! With a very satisfied stomach (and quite full!) I went off to meet someone to practice Spanish with. We had coffee and talked for a couple of hours, both in English and Spanish. I enjoyed it and it was good practice. Although he is much better at speaking English than I am with Spanish, but it still helped.

So after that, I went home to where my ¨grandparents¨ where awaiting me. My family is on vacation this week, actually to Iguazú, and so Vicky´s mom and dad are staying with me. They are very nice and I enjoyed their company last night for dinner. I definitely got to practice my Spanish more than usual and we talked about various things from my family to politics. But the most exciting for me was talking about religion. They are Catholic and seem to take their faith pretty seriously, which is refreshing. I haven´t found many people here that do. We talked about how God is the most important thing in life and so many people these days are indifferent. It´s quite sad actually. The conversation came at a great time because I´ve been feeling slightly discouraged in my faith lately. Just about every person I know here goes out frequently to the bars or boliches to drink and ´have fun´. I don´t enjoy that scene, yet I mistakenly feel like I´m missing out on something by not going. The thing I must realize is that, as Em so wonderfully pointed out to me, my time here is what I make of it. So long as I am satisfied with what I am doing and how I am taking advantage of my time, nothing else matters. I shouldn´t feel obligated to go to the boliches (discos) because ¨everyone¨ does it. I should only go if I want to. Who cares if people think it´s odd that I am staying home on a Sat. night. I want to!

With that revelation, and a nice conversation with my lovely sister, I felt much better. Now I must go! I start classes tomorrow, so wish me luck!!

*Abrazos*